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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

It was Jo-lyn who had heard about this interesting place in Melaka, where an old mansion was restored and made into a boutique** hotel by the YTL group. (** Of course, boutique is just a nicer way to say "expensive", isn't it? Haha...)

At first I was a bit hesitant, wondering "What could be so special about visiting a hotel?"...

... but I wasn't going to argue with the kind driver+owner of the car I was sitting in - lest she decides it would be more convenient to just dump me at the side of the road somewhere:

Outside the hotel...

Anyway, I'm really glad we went there.- From the beautiful facade of the hotel ...(Tastefully restored, maintaining it's old world charm)- to the friendly smiles of the staff... (So sincere and warm towards these 3 scruffily dressed girls in tshirts, shorts and flip flops? Rare!), - and the sophisticated yet cosy ambience inside...(Felt like we were hanging out in a really nice house, not a hotel)

All in all, the perfect combination! :)

The main lobby area...

There were also some really nice touches placed around the hotel lobby, like a congkak set and this jar of sugary biscuits:(You can help yourself to as much as you want, within reason I guess....)

Jar of goodies!...

Wah! Felt so nostalgic because hadn't seen/ eaten these type of biscuits since I was a kid!:

Happiness!...

(Generally these type of biscuits don't taste very nice... but they're really cheerful somehow because of the pretty pastel colours so I like them...)

We decided to test out their afternoon tea, so we were ushered into this really nice lounge area at the side, aptly called The Lounge:

Lounging around...

(Warning: There is VERY limited seating in The Lounge. So, if you want to try the afternoon tea or to just have drinks then it may be better if you call ahead to book a spot)

Nice! - The waitresses were dressed beautifully according to the "theme", in colourful Nyonya kebayas:

One of the waitresses...

The afternoon tea is served daily from 3 - 6pm, and for RM 48++ per person you get - a selection of cakes,- scones,- savoury pastries,- with your choice of a premium of tea.

The tiers of food...

There's actually quite a lot of food in one serving so we decided to share it between the 3 of us, but had to top up $$ for more drinks.

As there are also alcoholic beverages served all day, I chose that instead - here's my classic Margarita (RM28++):

Healthy or boozed up, you can choose...

(Would have been better if it were just a tad sweeter but not bad - got kick!)

Tastewise, the food was just ok lah... but we were too busy chilling out and enjoying the ambience to nitpick on that. :)

What a nice day - hanging out with my darling girl friends, chit-chatting and generally, daydreaming about how nice it would be if we owned a beautiful home like the Majestic mansion....(With the obligatory robust bank balance and a handsome husband/ boyfriend too, as a bonus. Haha...)

So, it's: Gorgeous little hotel (beautifully restored decor/architechture), flawlessly friendly service, nice selection of drinks BUT its a bit expensive! and sad lah, I wish I had RM600 to spare so that I can go check out the rooms there.....

I don't have any kind of poopy (cheapskate or otherwise) to pay for it so the likeliness of me going to a YTL resort anywhere is highly unlikely! (Unless just walk in and makan then leave lah. Haha...)(When are you back in KL though? We can make a trip up to Camerons for fun - haven't been there in quite a while...)